In New York on the 1st October, Tim Exile closes his North America Tour at the prestigous Santos Party House. To win a pair of tickets, simply e-mail info@bleep.com and state what Tim Exile’s latest album is called…

Shafiq has done a lot. One-third of the brilliant Sa-Ra Creative Partners, he has learnt to cut-n-scratch with Afrika Bambaata, worked with electro don Egyptian Lover, dropped his talents into Ice T’s Rhyme Syndicate, been signed on to a major label by Kanye West before being dropped just before the release of their album and written songs for the likes of Erykah Badu. More recently, he has released his new solo album which is out now. We decided to catch up with Shafiq and talk about how he sees the current state of the music industry.

What was your thinking to do a solo album? Was being a trio with the rest of Sa-Ra Creative Partners restrictive for your personal music output?
Actually, SRCP inspired this. there is just so much music we have. As artists, we can only really put out an album a year. An album can only have up to 16 tracks really. It’s a shame that only 16 songs a year can come out. By default, for 3 individuals, we need to work on extra projects.

What’s been the main differences between working on your own and working with a group?
The process of making this album was similar. We (SRCP) normally go through a filtering system where someone would write a song and we would add or change parts of it… with this, it was just me. It is still the same process but where I don’t have to bounce it off the other people but just with myself. I had to trust myself more.

So what happened with you being dropped from Kanye West’s label G.O.O.D.?
It’s simple really. Sony Music totally cut the urban department. The only people they kept on the roster was like Beyonce and John Legend. Kanye was in a position where he could try and move on with the label or give everyone back their masters. Kanye actually helped us by setting us free and letting us get out of the project…. but it also hindered us. People were hesitant to then work with SRCP. People still didnt really believe in us, even with Kanye signing us. Everyone was standing on the side and waiting to see what Kanye would do with us.

Has that left a sour taste in your mouth after that experience with major labels?
It goes back to what i was saying about only being able to put out 16 songs a year when you go through a record label. The majors are so methodical in how they put out records, you might not get your shot. So dealing with them as an artists can be a frustrating process.

In this day and age: dealing with digital downloads, the internet, blogs, myspace… independent (and prolific) artists such as Sa-Ra or a Madlib can use the internet nowadays to outlet their music. The major labels are now forced to sign whole writing or production teams… whole companies are being brought into 360 deals so they can more money off artists rather just off record sales.

So for a company like Sa-Ra, we don’t necessarily have to deal with a major label. We have more flexibility.

Who influences you?
From Monk to Punk.

We all started in hip-hop roots. Back then it wasn’t hip-hop music, it was just hip-hop. Hip-hop was Michael Jackson, hip-hop was Led Zepellin, David Bowie, Parliament, Prince… we just used to play it in our hip-hop culture, so it became hip-hop.

If you are part of the beat digging generation and you’ve been collecting records (like us) since the 80s, and it’s 2009 now, then you have come across so many different types of music that it is impossible to not be influenced by the music that you’ve come across. The mind is like a tape recorder and it never stops taping. On the conscious and the sub-conscious.

As well as selling exclusive CDs, vinyl, t-shirts, merchandise, books and DVDs… we also have some great instore performances, signings, and special little surprises coming up…. Here are the confirmed times to remember…
SATURDAY 19TH SEPTEMBER

3PM – MAXIMO PARK will be doing a live DJ instore performance5PM – HARMONIC 313 will be doing a live DJ instore performance
SUNDAY 19TH SEPTEMBER

4PM – HUDSON MOHAWKE will be working behind the shop counter5PM – NIGHTMARES ON WAX will be working behind the shop counter and signing records

7PM ONWARDS WILL BE THE OFFICIAL WARP20 (SHEFFIELD) CLOSING PARTY
confirmed to DJ will be:

Located in The Forum, we will be officially re-opening the legendary Warp store for only 3 days, selling exclusive Warp and non-Warp CDs, vinyl, t-shirts and merchandise. We will be displaying props and artifacts from some of the most classic Warp music videos and films.

We will also be featuring free instore performances, signings and competitions from Maxïmo Park. Harmonic 313, Bleep and Warp DJs, plus more very special surprise guests to be announced.

If you have bought a ticket in the last few days for the show at Magna, then you will be able to pick up your tickets in person at the shop. Also, there will be tickets available to buy in person from the Warp Shop for any of you last-minuters…

And to finish the weekend in style, we will be hosting the final closing party for the weekends proceedings…

Bleep.com will also be hosting the Official Warp20 (Sheffield) Closing Party
Sunday 19th September, The Forum Bar
7pm – 1AM, FREE ENTRY

Seeing as we like Vladislav Delay’s new album Tummaa, on The Leaf Label so much, we decided to catch up with the man and talk about his many different sounds and projects.

————————————————————————————The new album is seen by many as a return to your roots as a jazz drummer, which percussionists and programmers inspire you past , present and future?

i’m quite a lot influenced by the great jazz drummers of past and present, like Tony Williams, Al Foster, Elvin Jones, Brian Blade, Jeff Watts, etc etc and percussionists like Mino Cinelu, Nana Vasconcelos, etc
if it’s about programmers it’s definitely more towards US and hiphop, mainly the usual names like Dre and other big names. then again i quite like Flying Lotus how he programs beats.

————————————————————————————In recent years you have relocated back to Finland, can you tell us a little about the music scene up THERE and any artists we should be looking out for?

there’s absolutely no scene over here. i live like 600km from Helsinki where there might be a scene of some kind but little anyway. to be honest i don’t know much what’s going on here and one of the reasons for me to moving back was that there was no scene to speak of.

Moritz had wanted to put up a group for quite a long time and he had spoken about it every now and then. eventually when he had gotten a bit more time he went ahead and asked me to join, and he had quite a clear idea of the group already by then and asked Max to join as well.

————————————————————————————What is it like working alongside your wife for for the AGF/Delay projects?

it’s both rewarding and demanding… more than other collaborations. the thing is it’s so personal and also honest, you know each other so well that there’s no pretentiousness or trying to be something you aren’t. then again when you share life together with daughter and everything and then you spend long hours in the studio or travels it can be quite demanding.

————————————————————————————You work under many names and guises. Do you chose to do this as your various styles appeal to different audiences, or do you find that the same people listen to all of your work?

sometimes it surprises me to find out that people who like Luomo don’t even know Vladislav Delay stuff or the other way around. but that’s fair enough and i don’t plan to change that in any way. for me it’s important to put names or tags to separate projects from each other as i somehow don’t find mixing everything up appealing personally. it gives some structure to work around which is inspiring and constructive.